In an age when academics have scarcely any influence on government policy, Professor Richard Sennett stands out. Tony Blair quoted Sennett's book Respect at last month's launch of his crusade to crack down on antisocial behaviour. He even phoned up the London School of Economics professor afterwards to check out his reaction. The American-born Sennett grew up on one of Chicago's toughest neighbourhoods, the Cabrini Green project. Nine years ago, the pipe-smoking academic left his native USA to take up a professorship at the LSE, where he is a director of the Cities Programme. Since then, in a series of books, the former New Labour urban adviser has described the downside of what he terms the New Capitalism.
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